Dear Teacher: We're updating the NSDL Middle School Portal website (http://msteacher.org) and need your help! We want to transform a passive, text-based site into a dynamic, collaborative experience. We plan on integrating Web 2.0 tools into the site to provide interactive experiences that promote the creation, modification, and sharing of resources, and facilitate collaborative professional development.

We would like you know your opinions, issues, and concerning regarding your strengths and needs as a middle school math or science teacher, your math or science content knowledge, and your use of web tools and application in your teaching and professional development experiences. Any comments you'd like to share in response to the following questions would be greatly appreciated - just insert your comment under the question. You will need to register with wikispaces.com to add comments.

Thanks so much for your insight. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. My contact information is at the bottom of the page.

Internet Use:
What kinds of resources do you look for on the web?
How successful are you in finding what you are looking for on the web?
From where do you normally access the web?
What kinds of barriers to do encounter when searching/using the web?
How familiar are you with blogs and associated RSS feeds?
How familiar are you with wikis?
Have you ever visited Second Life or other virtual world?
Have you ever visited the NSDL Middle School Portal website? What were you looking for? How did you “find” the web site? Did you find what you were looking for?
Are there sites on the web that you consider exemplary?
What would make you become part of a community of online users?

Professional Development:
What kinds of professional development do you participate in during the school year?
What kinds of professional development do you participate in during the school year?
Have you ever taken an online course? What did you like about the experience? What didn’t you like?

Content Specific Questions:
What topics are the easiest to teach? Which are the hardest? Why are they “hard” to teach?
How important are correlations to standards in resources that you use in your classroom?
What questions do you have about types of pedagogy?
How important is it to you to know about current science research?
How important is it to you to know about current educational research?

Contact Information
Kimberly S. Lightle, Ph.D.
Director of Digital Libraries
College of Education and Human Ecology
The Ohio State University
1929 Kenny Rd., Suite 400
Columbus, OH 43210
614-688-3485
lightle.16@osu.edu